NFL: Suber Bowl 42 and Beyond

Well, it appears all those talking heads were wrong. There will be no 19-0 this year. After months of salivating and a 2-week coronation, the New England Patriots fell short in their bid for a perfect season. Suddenly, their legacy goes from being the best single-season in NFL history to being the only 18-win team NOT to win a title.

Like the 2001 Yankees, a dynasty might have died in the Arizona desert... Like the 2004 Yankees, the 2007 New England Patriots will forever be remembered as the team that... well... choked!

Maybe it was coach Bill (and his red, cutoff sweatshirt) who arrogantly passed on a FG, maybe it was Samuel who dropped a game-ending INT, maybe it was Moss and his uninspired effort to snag that final prayer from Brady or maybe it was the hubris of an entire team (and fan base) who actually thought the NY Giants wanted the Pats to make history and were there to compete as if they were the patsy preparing for a Globetrotter game.

In many ways, Super Bowl Forty-Two was like the 2004 ALCS... Both teams were playing against more than an opponent... they were playing against history. The Patriots were trying to make it, becoming the only NFL team to go 19-0. The Yankees were trying to continue it, continuing their century-long dominance over a city that has played dead decade after decade. The Red Sox were going on 86 years w/out a title, the Yanks had just won 4 in five years. The Red Sox never beat the Yanks. NO team ever came back from a 3 game hole...

The same could be said of the NY Giants. They were 10-6. They had Coughlin, Eli. They just lost, at home, to this team a few weeks ago. They were heavy underdogs and had no shot, at least according to the odds-makers. There was no way to stop this offense.

NOW, the Red Sox actually won the season series in 2004, and even Yankee fans feared something was amiss BEFORE the series. BUT, once the Yanks went up 3-0... Even the most skeptical fan was perusing Boston rags to read what the writers were saying. EVEN THEY had given up their team for dead. AND, just like the world when the Yanks were up 3-0, nobody felt the Giants had a chance to win this Super Bowl. HECK, if they were competitive in the game, and if they game was within reach in the 4th... That would be close enough for NY.

It goes in sports... when EVERYONE picks one team... well, that should throw up red flags. In sports, this is the first clue that the titanic is not unsinkable. We always are blinded though, and never see it until it's too late and the underdog is covered in confetti!

Fortunately for Patriot fans, you only have to endure your squad losing once. The 2004 Yankees lost four times. Imagine watching Super Bowl 42... only to watch the Patriots lose another 3 times. That hurts. BUT, when you talk about everything thats was at stake, on the line, in the historical perspective... This loss hurts just as much. AND, it might even be a bigger choke when you consider who they were playing and the importance of the game at hand.

In the last ten years, NO TEAM has lost the Super Bowl and returned the following year and made the playoffs. I feel the AFC East is weak... so I see New England breaking this streak... BUT, like the 2001 Yankees: Something died in the desert on the Sunday night!

MY FINAL POWER RANKINGS

Giants
Pats
Chargers
Cowboys
Packers
Colts
Jags
Steelers
Seahawks
Redskins
Titans
Bucs
Browns
Eagles
Vikings


My Game Ball in the Super Bowl

Giants D-line



IT APPEARS... The naysayers who warned that the Pats had flaws were on to something. That New England's defense and running game were average, and thus not championship worthy... That, if anything, this could come back to haunt them. That's what I call: hitting the nail on the head! That's what wins rings! Ask the Bills (when NY beat them), the Rams (when Pats beat them)... and so on! Look for New England to go crazy this off season and sign/draft a bunch of defensive guys to help on that side of the ball!